Storage space management in union mounted file systems

ABSTRACT

One embodiment provides a method for re-balancing data and metadata across multiple sub-file systems of a file system. The method includes determining sub-file systems including an amount of data that exceeds a threshold. At least one cell in the sub-file systems is identified as a candidate for re-balancing. A re-balance process is performed on the at least one cell that includes performing a flush operation to flush dirty data from file system buffers, copying an inode table for an independent set of files in the at least one cell to a destination sub-file system, notifying an allocation manager for the destination sub-file system of a new storage pool to manage, and performing an un-quiesce operation on I/O operations to each element in the at least one cell.

BACKGROUND

With storage requirements growing, information technology (IT) departments are expected to maintain and provide for storage in the scale of petabytes. However, as file-systems grow, the probability of failures/corruptions, either due to software bugs or hardware failure, increases. Recovery from failures takes longer and longer as more and more data and metadata need to be scanned to verify integrity and correct inconsistencies. Ultimately file system availability and robustness degrades.

SUMMARY

Embodiments relate to storage management in aggregated or union mounted file systems. One embodiment provides a method for re-balancing data and metadata across multiple sub-file systems of a file system. The method includes determining sub-file systems including an amount of data that exceeds a threshold. At least one cell in the sub-file systems is identified as a candidate for re-balancing. A re-balance process is performed on the at least one cell that includes performing a flush operation to flush dirty data from file system buffers, copying an inode table for an independent set of files in the at least one cell to a destination sub-file system, notifying an allocation manager for the destination sub-file system of a new storage pool to manage, and performing an un-quiesce operation on I/O operations to each element in the at least one cell.

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present embodiments will become understood with reference to the following description, appended claims and accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a cloud computing environment, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 depicts a set of abstraction model layers, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a network architecture for storage management providing unique inode numbers across multiple file system namespaces, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 shows a representative hardware environment that may be associated with the servers and/or clients of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating processors for storage management, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates a high-level file system structure, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a file system including a top-file system portion and sub-file systems, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example inode allocation in an aggregation file system, according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram for a process for re-balancing data and metadata across multiple sub-file systems of a file system, according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The descriptions of the various embodiments have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes a detailed description of cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather, embodiments are capable of being implemented in conjunction with any other type of computing environment now known or later developed.

One or more embodiments provide for re-balancing data and metadata across multiple sub-file systems of a file system. One embodiment provides a method for re-balancing data and metadata across multiple sub-file systems of a file system. The method includes determining sub-file systems including an amount of data that exceeds a threshold. At least one cell in the sub-file systems is identified as a candidate for re-balancing. A re-balance process is performed on the at least one cell that includes performing a flush operation to flush dirty data from file system buffers, copying an inode table for an independent set of files in the at least one cell to a destination sub-file system, notifying an allocation manager for the destination sub-file system of a new storage pool to manage, and performing an un-quiesce operation on I/O operations to each element in the at least one cell.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual machines (VMs), and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or interaction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may include at least five characteristics, at least three service models, and at least four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed and automatically, without requiring human interaction with the service's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous, thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to demand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or data center).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned and, in some cases, automatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active consumer accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported, thereby providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer is the ability to use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface, such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited consumer-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer is the ability to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages and tools supported by the provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly application-hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to the consumer is the ability to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for an organization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party and may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third party and may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the general public or a large industry group and is owned by an organization selling cloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more clouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is a service oriented with a focus on statelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability. At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising a network of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an illustrative cloud computing environment 50 is depicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 50 comprises one or more cloud computing nodes 10 with which local computing devices used by cloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA) or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C, and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 10 may communicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physically or virtually, in one or more networks, such as private, community, public, or hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combination thereof. This allows the cloud computing environment 50 to offer infrastructure, platforms, and/or software as services for which a cloud consumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computing device. It is understood that the types of computing devices 54A-N shown in FIG. 2 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes 10 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type of computerized device over any type of network and/or network addressable connection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 2, a set of functional abstraction layers provided by the cloud computing environment 50 (FIG. 1) is shown. It should be understood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shown in FIG. 2 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers and corresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and software components. Examples of hardware components include: mainframes 61; RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers 62; servers 63; blade servers 64; storage devices 65; and networks and networking components 66. In some embodiments, software components include network application server software 67 and database software 68.

Virtualization layer 70 provides an abstraction layer from which the following examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers 71; virtual storage 72; virtual networks 73, including virtual private networks; virtual applications and operating systems 74; and virtual clients 75.

In one example, a management layer 80 may provide the functions described below. Resource provisioning 81 provides dynamic procurement of computing resources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and pricing 82 provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloud computing environment and billing or invoicing for consumption of these resources. In one example, these resources may comprise application software licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloud consumers and tasks as well as protection for data and other resources. User portal 83 provides access to the cloud computing environment for consumers and system administrators. Service level management 84 provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such that required service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning and fulfillment 85 provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated in accordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 90 provides examples of functionality for which the cloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads and functions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping and navigation 91; software development and lifecycle management 92; virtual classroom education delivery 93; data analytics processing 94; and transaction processing 95. As mentioned above, all of the foregoing examples described with respect to FIG. 2 are illustrative only, and the embodiments are not limited to these examples.

It is understood all functions of one or more embodiments as described herein may be typically performed by the processing system 300 (FIG. 3) or the autonomous cloud environment 410 (FIG. 4), which can be tangibly embodied as hardware processors and with modules of program code. However, this need not be the case for non-real-time processing. Rather, for non-real-time processing the functionality recited herein could be carried out/implemented and/or enabled by any of the layers 60, 70, 80 and 90 shown in FIG. 2.

It is reiterated that although this disclosure includes a detailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather, the embodiments may be implemented with any type of clustered computing environment now known or later developed.

FIG. 3 illustrates a network architecture 300, in accordance with one embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of remote networks 302 are provided, including a first remote network 304 and a second remote network 306. A gateway 301 may be coupled between the remote networks 302 and a proximate network 308. In the context of the present network architecture 300, the networks 304, 306 may each take any form including, but not limited to, a LAN, a WAN, such as the Internet, public switched telephone network (PSTN), internal telephone network, etc.

In use, the gateway 301 serves as an entrance point from the remote networks 302 to the proximate network 308. As such, the gateway 301 may function as a router, which is capable of directing a given packet of data that arrives at the gateway 301, and a switch, which furnishes the actual path in and out of the gateway 301 for a given packet.

Further included is at least one data server 314 coupled to the proximate network 308, which is accessible from the remote networks 302 via the gateway 301. It should be noted that the data server(s) 314 may include any type of computing device/groupware. Coupled to each data server 314 is a plurality of user devices 316. Such user devices 316 may include a desktop computer, laptop computer, handheld computer, printer, and/or any other type of logic-containing device. It should be noted that a user device 311 may also be directly coupled to any of the networks in some embodiments.

A peripheral 320 or series of peripherals 320, e.g., facsimile machines, printers, scanners, hard disk drives, networked and/or local storage units or systems, etc., may be coupled to one or more of the networks 304, 306, 308. It should be noted that databases and/or additional components may be utilized with, or integrated into, any type of network element coupled to the networks 304, 306, 308. In the context of the present description, a network element may refer to any component of a network.

According to some approaches, methods and systems described herein may be implemented with and/or on virtual systems and/or systems, which emulate one or more other systems, such as a UNIX system that emulates an IBM z/OS environment, a UNIX system that virtually hosts a MICROSOFT WINDOWS environment, a MICROSOFT WINDOWS system that emulates an IBM z/OS environment, etc. This virtualization and/or emulation may be implemented through the use of VMWARE software in some embodiments.

FIG. 4 shows a representative hardware system 400 environment associated with a user device 416 and/or server 314 of FIG. 3, in accordance with one embodiment. In one example, a hardware configuration includes a workstation having a central processing unit 410, such as a microprocessor, and a number of other units interconnected via a system bus 412. The workstation shown in FIG. 4 may include a Random Access Memory (RAM) 414, Read Only Memory (ROM) 416, an I/O adapter 418 for connecting peripheral devices, such as disk storage units 420 to the bus 412, a user interface adapter 422 for connecting a keyboard 424, a mouse 426, a speaker 428, a microphone 432, and/or other user interface devices, such as a touch screen, a digital camera (not shown), etc., to the bus 412, communication adapter 434 for connecting the workstation to a communication network 435 (e.g., a data processing network) and a display adapter 436 for connecting the bus 412 to a display device 438.

In one example, the workstation may have resident thereon an operating system, such as the MICROSOFT WINDOWS Operating System (OS), a MAC OS, a UNIX OS, etc. In one embodiment, the system 400 employs a POSIX® based file system. It will be appreciated that other examples may also be implemented on platforms and operating systems other than those mentioned. Such other examples may include operating systems written using JAVA, XML, C, and/or C++ language, or other programming languages, along with an object oriented programming methodology. Object oriented programming (OOP), which has become increasingly used to develop complex applications, may also be used.

An inode may be referred to as a data structure, which may be used to represent a file system object. A file system object may be, for example, a file, a directory, etc. Each inode stores attributes and disk block location(s) for the file system object's data. Integrity checks such as file system consistency check (fsck) have been parallelized using techniques, such as inode space division and node delegation to speed up recovery. However, the time taken to recover/check file systems is still proportional to the volume of data that needs to be scanned. To solve for that, union mount file systems may be used. Instead of a single file system, multiple smaller file systems or sub-file systems (also referred to as subFSs) are commissioned such that together they provide for the cumulative storage needs. Since each sub-file system (also referred to as subFS) is smaller than the whole file system, if there is a failure in a sub-file system, recovery is faster. Each sub-file system is a federated entity, therefore, a failure in one sub-file system does not affect the other sister sub-file systems. This improves availability.

As storage requirements grow, new sub-file systems can be provisioned to distribute the load without degrading recovery time. One key problem with presenting multiple file systems as a single namespace is that each individual file system uses the same set of possible inode numbers. This can cause issues in several different ways. First, applications using the namespace expect that different files will have different inode numbers (this is in fact a core part of the POSIX standard). If two files have the same inode number, many applications could fail. Further, file and directory placement at creation time can be devised to ensure even distribution across all sub-file systems. However, as files grow over time, it is possible for one or some sub-file systems under the union mount point to become too large, increasing recovery time for those sub-file systems in the event of a failure.

Redistribution of data across sub-file systems is required to ensure no one file system grows too large such that it would have a long recovery time if it failed and would handle a disproportionate amount of the incoming I/O load. Therefore, data is moved, along with its inode and namespace, to another sub-file system to rebalance sub-file system size. If inode numbers across sub-file systems weren't unique, such data movement would cause inode collisions in the target sub-file system. Inode number collisions would complicate the machinery which rebalances the spread of data across sub-file systems. One or more embodiments provide a solution that maintains unique inode numbers across all sub-file systems.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating processors for storage management providing unique inode numbers across multiple file system namespaces, according to an embodiment. Node 500 includes an inode manager processor 510, memory 520 and an inode balancing manager processor 530. The memory 520 may be implemented to store instructions and data, where the instructions are executed by the inode manager processor 510 and the inode balancing manager processor 530. In one example, the inode manager processor 510 provides creation of a globally unique inode space across all sub-file systems (e.g., sub-file system 625, FIG. 6). The inode manager processor 510 further provides allocation of a unique range of inodes to every sub-file system. Together these inodes encompass the subtree of the file system. In one or more embodiments, an inode number is unique across all sub-file systems. Therefore, inodes within a cell 830 (FIG. 8) are unique across all sub-file systems. A cell 830 is an autonomous unit consisting of logical (inodes, hierarchy) and physical (storage pools, allocation table/inode map) constructs.

In one embodiment, the inode balancing manager processor 530 provides balancing and re-balancing processing. In one embodiment, when the sub-file systems (e.g., sub-file systems 625, FIG. 6) grow in size unevenly, re-balancing processing is initiated by the inode balancing manager processor 530. In one example, a threshold for the size of data or number of inodes in the sub-file systems may be set. This threshold value is selected based on the time it would take to recover the size of data. Within the sub-file systems whose data has grown in size beyond the threshold, sub-file systems are identified that need to be pruned. Within those sub-file systems one or more cells that are large enough are identified based on moving them out will reduce the sub-file system size appropriately. Finding the largest or the best fit cells may be resource intensive, in which case the processing starts with the largest sub-file system by number of inodes or aggregate size, and the inode balancing manager processor 530 performs a greedy algorithm to find cells within it.

In one embodiment, the inode balancing manager processor 530 further quiesces input/output (I/O) operations to every element of the chosen cell 830 (FIG. 8), and copies the independent set of file's inode table to a destination sub-file system. In one example, a flush operation is initiated to flush dirty data from file system buffers. A quiesce operation is called/initiated to stop new incoming I/O to the set of files. In one embodiment, after a second flush operation, a cell is disassociated from its parent sub-file system and remounted onto another smaller sub-file system that can accommodate it. The process of twice flushing, before and after a quiesce, before the move is similar to what happens in the case of a snapshot. The inode balancing manager processor 530 notifies a file system allocation manager of a destination sub-file system of the new storage pools that it is required to manage going forward. The inode balancing manager processor 530 further updates any pointers/links in a top-file system (also referred to as a TopFS) to a new location of the cell 830, un-quiesces I/O operations to a cell 830, and performs copy-less creation and deletion of sub-file systems.

In one embodiment, the inode manager processor 510 and the inode balancing manager processor 530 perform processing such that each sub-file system consumes a flexible range of inode numbers from a global inode number pool, therefore ensuring unique inode numbers across all sub-file systems. The inode manager processor acts as a global inode number manager to ensure that each sub-file system has enough inode numbers and that no two sub-file systems have overlapping inode numbers (which would lead to possible data corruption). The top-file system part of the file system (e.g., the portion that binds the sub-file systems together) or the individual sub-file systems send requests to the inode manager processor 510 to request inode numbers (or a range of inodes) to use. The inode manager processor 510 then returns a range of inode numbers. If a sub-file system needs more inode numbers and none are available, the inode manager processor 510 may revoke inode numbers from a sub-file system that does not need them and hand them to one that needs it.

In one embodiment, the size of the range of inode numbers is typically limited to the range of inodes that may be described by an unsigned 64 bit binary number. The number of inode numbers provided to each sub-file system is totally under the control of the inode manager processor 510 (although sub-file systems may be able to provide hints to the number that they are requesting). Limiting the number of inode numbers means that sub-file systems will need to send more requests to the inode manager processor 510 (possibly slowing the system down), whereas increasing the number of inode numbers means that a sub-file system could be assigned too many and need to have them revoked (also possibly slowing down the system). In one embodiment, the inode manager processor 510 starts by issuing smaller inode number ranges to each sub-file system. The inode manager processor can then track the sub-file systems to see how often each sub-file system is requesting additional inode numbers, and if the request rate passes a predetermined threshold (e.g., a number of requests per minute, hour, day, etc.), then issue the sub-file system increasingly more inodes in each request to that sub-file system.

In one embodiment, the inode manager processor 510 tracks the inode number ranges assigned to each sub-file system and may be queried by the TopFS (e.g., TopFS 710, FIG. 7) or other daemons in the file system. Each sub-file system may optionally send the inode manager processor 510 an update of the number of used inode numbers. In one example, if a sub-file system requests a range of inode numbers from the inode manager processor 510, but there are no remaining numbers, then the inode manager processor 510 must revoke inode numbers from one of the sub-file systems. If the inode manager processor 510 determines how many inodes are used in each sub-file system (from the sub-file systems sending updates), then the inode manager processor 510 attempts to revoke a portion of the unused inodes from the sub-file system that has the most unused inode numbers. If the inode manager processor 510 does not determine how many of the inode number ranges each of the sub-file systems has used, then it must query all of them to make the determination (this may be performed in parallel). There are several techniques that may be used to revoke an inode number range from one or more sub-file systems (e.g., a small sample size from each one, a large sample size from one sub-file system, etc.). In one example, each sub-file system may wait until it runs out of inode numbers before requesting more. In another example, the sub-file systems request more inodes when the number of their unused inodes drops below a threshold (e.g., 40%, 50%, etc.). In one embodiment, each sub-file system must track the inode numbers that have been assigned to it and the numbers that are currently used by executing applications.

In one embodiment, the TopFS may query the inode manager processor 510 to learn which sub-file system has consumed how many inodes. In particular, if a sub-file system has too many used inodes (e.g., a particular proportion of unused as compared to used inodes), then the files and directories from that sub-file system may be migrated by the inode balancing processor 530 to another sub-file system or a portion of its data (along with the name space and inode space) may be moved to another sub-file system without having to handle inode collisions.

FIG. 6 illustrates a high-level file system structure 600, according to an embodiment. In one embodiment, the file system structure 600 is a union mounted or aggregated file system having a TopFS 610 where a user views a single namespace. The file system abstraction 620 includes the sub-file systems 625 (e.g., subFS1, subFS2, subFS3, etc.) including files 630 and possibly directories, which are mapped across failure domains (sub-file systems 625) based upon policy. The storage abstraction 640 includes failure domains (sub-file systems mapped across storage building blocks and include elastic system servers (ESS) 645 and storage devices 650 (e.g., drives, discs, RAIDs, etc.). In one embodiment, a sub-file system in a first environment may be configured as a top-file system in a second environment wherein it maintains a directory structure of sub-file systems under its control.

In one embodiment, the TopFS 610 maintains the hierarchical directory structure and does not house data. The sub-file systems 625 have a two level namespace of directories and its files. The namespace in the TopFS 610 and pointers to sub-file systems 625 include the name of a directory in a sub-file system 625 that is its inode number in the TopFS 610. When a user looks up a directory, the system follows the pointer from the TopFS 610 directory to the sub-file system 625, and then finds and reads the directory with the name of its inode number.

In one embodiment, a policy-based directory creation in the file system structure 600 provides a capacity policy with no failure isolation where directories are allocated across all sub-file systems 625 using a round robin technique, based on available space, etc. In one embodiment, the file system structure 600 provides a dataset affinity policy with a per-dataset failure isolation that places an entire dataset in a single sub-file system 625, limits datasets to the size of a sub-file system 625, and where failure will not impact some projects but will impact others.

In one or more embodiments, the file system structure 600 provides fault tolerance where datasets in a single failure domain can survive a failure of any other domain, the TopFS 610 is relatively small and can recover quickly, users are provided the option to choose between capacity and availability by spreading a single dataset across all failure domains, which increases capacity while decreasing availability, and a single dataset is isolated within a single failure domain for increasing availability while reducing capacity.

The file system structure 600 provides fault tolerance for software where each sub-file system 625 can fail and recover independently without impacting other sub-file systems 625, and for hardware where each sub-file system 625 is mapped to storage building blocks according to performance, capacity, and availability requirements.

In one embodiment, the file system structure 600 provides performance benefits by parallelizing operations by issuing operations on any number of sub-file systems 625 simultaneously, depending on configured sub-file systems 625, where performance may be independent of the number of sub-file systems 625 (a sub-file system 625 may span all disks). Single sub-file system 625 improvements help the entire file system structure 600, and there are no performance losses for most operations.

In one embodiment, the file system structure 600 provides a capacity benefit where sub-file system 625 metadata managed separately, allowing metadata to scale with the number of sub-file systems 625, sub-file systems 625 are large enough to support most datasets (e.g., 1 to 10 PB in capacity), and to find files, the file system structure 600 only needs to scan an individual failure domain instead of the entire system.

One or more embodiments provide for the TopFS 610 storing a directory hierarchy, with each directory pointing to a sub-file system 625 for its directory contents. Upon directory creation, the directory is created in the TopFS 610, and then a directory (named with the inode number of the directory in the TopFS 610) is created in a sub-file system 625, and a symbolic pointer from the directory in the TopFS 610 points to the sub-file system 625. The sub-file system 625 in which the directory is created is chosen according to a policy. Each directory is stored at the root of the sub-file system 625 (flat namespace). Each directory in the sub-file system 625 is named using the inode number of the directory that points to it. Upon access of a directory in the TopFS 610, the file system structure 600 follows the pointer to the sub-file system, then accesses the information stored in the directory with its inode number. Upon access of a file in a directory, the TopFS 610 passes the requests to the file 630 in the sub-file system 625. In one embodiment, subsequent accesses to the file in the directory do not utilize the TopFS 610, and instead go to the file in the given sub-file system 625 previously accessed.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a file system including the TopFS 710 portion and sub-file systems 725 with directories 730, according to an embodiment. In this example, it is shown how the directories Science, Astronomy, Biology and Moon may be structured in the system.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example inode allocation in an aggregation file system or union mounted file system, according to an embodiment. In one embodiment, a unique inode range 810 is allocated to each sub-file system 725. An inode 811 is shown mapped to the directory 730 with a cell 831 encompassing the directory for moon. Sub-file system 725 (subFS2) has inodes mapped to the directory biology and astronomy, where biology directory has a cell 832 and astronomy has a cell 833.

In one embodiment, the moon in dedicated storage pool 820 has an allocation map (indicated by arrow 821) allocated to the independent set of files for moon (similarly as for biology and astronomy). The sub-file system 725 for subFS2 shows a range of inodes allocated to an independent set of files for biology and one for astronomy (indicated by arrow 815).

In one embodiment, metadata structures and/or data are rebalanced across sub-file systems 725 under the single TopFS 710 without copying the data. Cells of data, metadata and storage may be re-assigned across sub-file systems 725. The system shown in FIG. 8 provides allocation of a unique range of inodes 810 to every sub-file system 725. A binding between a logical and physical storage construct is provided, such that it is an independent unit of namespace, data, and allocated storage. For a general parallel file system (GPFS), an example of a cell 830 could be an independent set of files+its associated metadata+storage pool+allocation map. In one embodiment, a cell 830 encapsulates: metadata—directory inodes and hierarchy; files—file inodes; data—file data blocks; storage-storage pool; allocation map—a range of the inodes and allocation tables assigned to the set of files.

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram for a process 900 for re-balancing data and metadata across multiple sub-file systems (e.g., sub-file systems 625, FIG. 6, 725, FIGS. 7-8) of a file system (e.g., a hierarchical file system), according to one embodiment. In one embodiment, in block 910 the process 900 includes determining sub-file systems including an amount of data that exceeds a threshold (e.g., a predetermined size amount). In one embodiment, in block 920 process 900 includes identifying at least one cell in the sub-file systems as a candidate for re-balancing. In block 930, process 900 includes performing a re-balance process on the at least one cell comprising: performing a flush operation to flush dirty data from file system buffers, copying an inode table (and any other additional required metadata) for an independent set of files in the at least one cell to a destination sub-file system, notifying an allocation manager (e.g., an allocation manager processor) for the destination sub-file system of a new storage pool to manage, and performing an un-quiesce operation on I/O operations to each element of the at least one cell.

In one embodiment, in process 900 the at least one cell comprises logical and physical constructs. Process 900 may include that a range of inode numbers for each of the sub-file systems is unique, and inodes within the at least one cell are unique across all of the sub-file systems of the at least one cell. Process 900 may additionally include performing a quiesce operation on I/O operations to each element in the at least one cell, and that the quiesce operation is initiated to stop new incoming I/O to a set of files of the at least one cell.

In one embodiment, process 900 may provide that the re-balance process further includes: performing another flush operation of dirty data from file system buffers. In one embodiment, process 900 may additionally provide that the re-balance process further includes: disassociating the set of files is disassociated from a parent sub-file system, associating the set of files with the destination sub-file system that is smaller in size than at least one sub-file system and has a size to hold the at least one cell, and upon a determination that candidate set of files of the at least one cell have a size too large to be migrated to another sub-file system, creating a new sub-file system for the candidate set of files. In one embodiment, process 900 may further include updating any pointers or links in a top-file system (e.g., TopFS 610, FIG. 6, 710, FIGS. 7-8) portion of the file system to a new location of the at least one cell.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present embodiments may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present embodiments may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present embodiments may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present embodiments may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

Aspects of the present embodiments are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to the embodiments. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

References in the claims to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only” unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one or more.” All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the above-described exemplary embodiment that are currently known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are intended to be encompassed by the present claims. No claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. section 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or “step for.”

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present embodiments have been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the embodiments. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for re-balancing data and metadata across multiple sub-file systems of a file system, the method comprising: determining sub-file systems including an amount of data that exceeds a threshold; identifying at least one cell in the sub-file systems as a candidate for re-balancing; and performing a re-balance process on the at least one cell comprising: performing a flush operation to flush dirty data from file system buffers; copying an inode table plus any additional metadata for an independent set of files in the at least one cell to a destination sub-file system; notifying an allocation manager for the destination sub-file system of a new storage pool to manage; and performing an un-quiesce operation on I/O operations to each element of the at least one cell.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one cell comprises logical and physical constructs.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein a range of inode numbers for each of the sub-file systems is unique, and inodes within the at least one cell are unique across all of the sub-file systems of the at least one cell.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing a quiesce operation on input/output (I/O) operations to each element in the at least one cell, wherein the quiesce operation is initiated to stop new incoming I/O to a set of files of the at least one cell.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the re-balance process further comprising: performing another flush operation of dirty data from file system buffers.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the re-balance process further comprising: disassociating the set of files is disassociated from a parent sub-file system; associating the set of files with the destination sub-file system that is smaller in size than at least one sub-file system and has a size to hold the at least one cell; and upon a determination that a candidate set of files of the at least one cell have a size too large to be migrated to another sub-file system, creating a new sub-file system for the candidate set of files.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: updating pointers or links in a top-file system portion of the file system to a new location of the at least one cell.
 8. A computer program product for re-balancing data and metadata across multiple sub-file systems of a file system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to: determine, by the processor, sub-file systems including an amount of data that exceeds a threshold; identify, by the processor, at least one cell in the sub-file systems as a candidate for re-balancing; and perform, by the processor, a re-balance process on the at least one cell comprising: performing a flush operation to flush dirty data from file system buffers; copying an inode table plus associated metadata for an independent set of files in the at least one cell to a destination sub-file system; notifying an allocation manager for the destination sub-file system of a new storage pool to manage; and performing an un-quiesce operation on I/O operations to each element of the at least one cell.
 9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the request for the unique range of inode numbers is made from a top-file system portion or individual sub-file systems of the aggregated file system.
 10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein a range of inode numbers for each of the sub-file systems is unique, and inodes within the at least one cell are unique across all of the sub-file systems of the at least one cell.
 11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the re-balance process further comprises performing a quiesce operation on input/output (I/O) operations to each element in the at least one cell, and the quiesce is initiated to stop new incoming I/O to a set of files of the at least one cell.
 12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the re-balance process further comprises: performing another flush operation of dirty data from file system buffers.
 13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the re-balance process further comprising: disassociating the set of files is disassociated from a parent sub-file system; associating the set of files with the destination sub-file system that is smaller in size than at least one sub-file system and has a size to hold the at least one cell; and upon a determination that a candidate set of files of the at least one cell have a size too large to be migrated to another sub-file system, creating a new sub-file system for the candidate set of files.
 14. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising program instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to: update, by the processor, pointers or links in a top-file system portion of the file system to a new location of the at least one cell.
 15. An apparatus comprising: a memory storing instructions; and one or more processors executing the instructions to: determine sub-file systems including an amount of data that exceeds a threshold; identify at least one cell in the sub-file systems as a candidate for re-balancing; and perform a re-balance process on the at least one cell by the one or more processors executing the instructions to: perform a flush operation to flush dirty data from file system buffers; copy an inode table for an independent set of files in the at least one cell to a destination sub-file system; notify an allocation manager for the destination sub-file system of a new storage pool to manage; and perform an un-quiesce operation on I/O operations to each element of the at least one cell.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one cell comprises logical and physical constructs.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein a range of inode numbers for each of the sub-file systems is unique, and inodes within the at least one cell are unique across all of the sub-file systems of the at least one cell.
 18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the re-balance process further comprises the one or more processors further executing the instructions to: perform a quiesce operation on input/output (I/O) operations to each element in the at least one cell, wherein the quiesce operation is initiated to stop new incoming I/O to a set of files of the at least one cell.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the re-balance process further comprises the one or more processors further executing the instructions to: perform another flush operation of dirty data from file system buffers; disassociate the set of files is disassociated from a parent sub-file system; associate the set of files with the destination sub-file system that is smaller in size than at least one sub-file system and has a size to hold the at least one cell; and upon a determination that a candidate set of files of the at least one cell have a size too large to be migrated to another sub-file system, create a new sub-file system for the candidate set of files.
 20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors further executing the instructions to: update any pointers or links in a top-file system portion of the file system to a new location of the at least one cell. 